1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a remote hand-held device to be used as a pointing cursor on a display, and more particularly, to a remote control system and method for controlling the movement of a cursor on the display.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the advent of the Internet technologies, it is foreseeable that the function of computers will be integrated with the television, set-top boxes, or the like. As such, viewers watching television at a certain distance may be able to interact with the television monitor through moving a cursor on the TV screen for screen manipulation. To this end, a touch screen has been proposed to allow a user to select the menus on the TV screen. However, the user must get close to the screen and make a personal contact with the screen, which is inconvenient for the user. Alternatively, viewers may manipulate the upward, downward, left, and right buttons provided in a remote control unit to select different menus on the TV screen. However, these techniques do not provide a functional capability that is the same as a mouse and easy to use in conventional computing environments.
Although there have been many attempts to provide the equivalent function of a mouse using a remote control unit, the ability to point and stop at a precise location has been a difficult task. In the conventional computer and mouse setting, the ability to move and stop the cursor on a screen is achieved easily as the mouse is movably displaced on a mouse pad in a substantially horizontal orientation. The xe2x80x9cgravity effectxe2x80x9d of pulling the mouse in a downward vertical direction is eliminated by the mouse pad that is displaced in a stationary position. Thus, the user simply needs to release the mouse, or hold the mouse in a stationary position against the mouse pad. However, the xe2x80x9cgravity effectxe2x80x9d on a hand-held device, i.e., a remote control, makes the hand-held device difficult to use, especially for those with unstable hands, to be in a stationary position when pointing it at a monitor screen. Therefore, there is a need for a selection device with the same capability of a mouse to move and select a displayed option for action by moving a cursor on the displayed screen from a remote distance.
The present invention relates to a remote control system and method to enable a user to move a cursor on a screen in response to the wrist motions that a user makes using a remote control unit having a light-emitting source.
According to one aspect of the invention, a system for controlling the movement of a cursor on a monitor screen is provided. The system includes at least one remote control unit for remotely controlling the cursor movement on the monitor screen; at least one light emitting element for emitting light indicative of a signal generated by the remote control unit in response to a first click operation; a light detector for extracting the light movement transmitted from the remote control unit; and, a control unit adapted to display the moving position of the cursor on the monitor screen corresponding to the extracted movement of the light from the remote control unit, and adapted to stop the moving position of the cursor on the monitor screen in response to the release of the first click operation. The moving position of the cursor also may be stopped if the light movement of the remote control unit changes in the opposite direction. The control unit comprises an image detection algorithm that detects the image of the light transmitted from the remote control unit. The light detector may include two digital cameras for detecting the position of the remote control unit in three dimensions. Similarly, the remote control unit may include two light elements for detecting the rotation position of the remote control unit in three dimensions.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a system for controlling the movement of a cursor on a monitor screen is provided. The system includes two or more remote control units, each having at least one light emitting element adapted to transmit light at different frequencies or patterns of flashing; at least one light detector for detecting the light movement transmitted from each light emitting element of the remote control units; and, a control unit for displaying the cursor on the monitor screen through a first click operation of the remote control unit and for translating the movement of the cursor based on the detected light movement from the remote control unit, wherein the motion of the cursor is halted in response to the release of the first click operation of the remote control unit. The movement of the cursor also may be stopped if the movement of the light transmitted from the remote control unit changes in the opposite direction. The light detector communicates with the control unit to deliver a sequence of digital images that include the light emitted from the remote control units.
According to a further aspect of the invention, a method for controlling the movement of a cursor on a monitor screen through a remote control unit with at least one light emitting element is provided. The method includes the steps of: pointing the light emitting element of the remote control unit toward a camera; transmitting a first light signal indicating the start of the cursor through a first click operation; detecting the light movement generated in response to the first click operation in at least two dimensions; moving the cursor on the monitor screen corresponding to the detected movement of light from the remote control unit; and, stopping the movement of the cursor on the monitor screen in response to the release of the first click operation.
The foregoing and other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following, more detailed description of preferred embodiments as illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which reference characters refer to the same parts throughout the various views. The drawings are not necessarily to scale, the emphasis is placed instead upon illustrating the principles of the invention.